Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams (DBBE)

The Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams (DBBE) is an ongoing research project that makes available textual and contextual data of Byzantine book epigrams (or metrical paratexts in Greek manuscripts) from the seventh to the fifteenth century. It is directed by Kristoffel Demoen and is based at the Department of Literary Studies at Ghent University. 

DBBE define book epigrams as poems in books and on books: their subject is the very manuscript in which they are found. They record, react to, or motivate the production, the contents and the use of the book.

The objectives of the database are to:

• collect textual material that was hitherto dispersed over various publications, chiefly catalogues 
• clarify the manuscript context of the epigrams
• provide ways to search the corpus and detect affinities between epigrams and manuscripts
• offer reliable editions that respect the uniqueness of each specific manuscript